Page 27: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2024)

AMERICAN ROLL-ON ROLL-OFF CARRIER (ARC) “MSP really only works when it’s hand in glove with the cargo preference laws.

Those are the laws that generate the cargo that moves on US ? ag vessels. Really, it’s cargo – those preference cargoes – that’s the key incentive for US ? ag operators in international trade. Nobody’s going to operate a US ? ag ship just for the MSP stipend. It’s a cargo driven industry, and those cargoes help to offset the foreign ? ag cost differential.”

Eric P. Ebeling,

President & CEO, ARC

Image courtesy ARC particularly bullish on the ship Endur- said Ebeling. “Another part that’s an (MSP) was established by President ance, which he calls “extraordinary.” important component that sometimes Clinton in 1996 as part of the Maritime

Endurance is a ro-ro built originally for gets lost: we talk a lot about national Security Act of 1996, and MSP main- the mining industry in 1996 and boasts defense, national security, and those tains a ? eet of 60 commercially viable, 262,000 sq. ft. of military capacity and are obviously important aspects, but militarily useful merchant ships active nearly 500,000 sq. ft. of commercial we also support the country’s economic in international trade. capacity. “Although the oldest ship security, and that’s increasingly (and The MSP ? eet is available to support in MSP, Endurance is still the most equally) important.” U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) militarily useful vessel in the U.S.-? ag The Maritime Security Program sustainment sealift requirements during ? eet.”

The Importance of MSP

CEO Ebeling is naturally concerned ? rst and foremost with ARC and all that goes into running a safe, ef? cient, and pro? table ? eet and company, primarily eying the dual challenges of ? eet decar- bonization while simultaneously work- ing to ensure that ARC has the people it wants and needs to conduct business.

But as the country’s largest RoRo carri- er transporting equipment that is central to U.S. presence and in? uence globally, he also embraces a higher calling to a bigger purpose; namely “the develop- ment and implementation of a national maritime strategy that is focused on the importance of a U.S.-? ag commercial ? eet in international trade.” “We’re talking about the ? eet and the assets here, but as we are the country’s biggest RoRo carrier, we are also keen- ly aware of the importance of the U.S.

Merchant Marine as well, the guys that are actually operating on the ships,” www.marinelink.com 27

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